Cannabis News on 12th March, 2004

As of today, Russian drug users and people in possession of small amounts of illegal drugs no longer face any jail time. Under previous Russian law, smoking marijuana or being caught with as little as one-tenth of a gram of it could bring a three-year prison sentence.

There has been a lot of debate about medical marijuana laws—most of it revolving around how much should be allowed for consumption, distribution and production for medical purposes. The arguments range from the federal position of zero tolerance to liberal cries of make it all legal.

Medical-marijuana advocates are celebrating the expected approval of a marijuana-based pain reliever in Britain but remain cautious about any impact the move will have on marijuana-policy reform in the United States.

The nation’s drug czar described as foolhardy Thursday the latest Nevada initiative to legalize marijuana. John Walters, in Las Vegas to push for a crackdown on the abuse of prescriptions drugs, said legalizing marijuana is “not an area for legitimate debate.”

Responding to a request by U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), the General Accounting Office (ONDCP), the investigative arm of Congress, yesterday gave the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy unfettered permission to mislead the public in the name of opposing “drug legalization.”